The amazing Chinese 11th Corps once again was defeated 2 to 1 and once again chose to ignore that fact, by holding their positions! This is important because it gives time for others to respond to the new Imperial axis of attack.

The 70th was targeted during both runs but decided not to notice. 92mi away across the river, an IJA unit has made the Australians position. Movement has therefore been halted both divisions will attack tomorrow, hopefully before another Imperial formation arrives. Blenheims will harry the advancing troops to slow their movement, while Mitchells and Wellingtons pound the new arrivals to aid the attack.

The B-17s were busy again over Akyab, although the results were meager. All came home safely, but after two days of morning and afternoon runs against the merchants while being pestered by irritated fighter planes, all of the crews are in need of rest and thus will not fly against the troops in the jungle.

CAP engaged: 50th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (1 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 11000 , scrambling fighters to 10000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 91 minutes 84th I.F.Chutai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 12000 , scrambling fighters to 10000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 61 minutes

Many ships entered the yards for upgrades today. The weather was good enough for a transfer that a squadron of Wildcats, recently shipped to Pago Pago, flew into Suva. The carriers and troops convoys continue to move unnoticed. Enterprise and Yorktown have replenished at Pearl Harbor and are now leaving for the South Pacific. The 40th Infantry Division has been bought out at San Francisco and should finish upgrading to USA 42 Infantry squads before transport is ready to move them. BTW, I have several times as much supply on Pago Pago as I have in all of China.

Here is that axis of advance that the Empire is opening in the north. The terrain is inhospitable, for friend and foe alike. Hopefully the desert will swallow them up as the Australian Outback's desert did?

I'd say he is trying to cut any supplies coming down from Russia. I think I read somewhere that there is a flow from there. Certainly the northern bases in that direction are well supplied compared to Sian and points south.

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No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

I'd say he is trying to cut any supplies coming down from Russia. I think I read somewhere that there is a flow from there. Certainly the northern bases in that direction are well supplied compared to Sian and points south.

Yes, off-map supply comes in from that Soviet base. Here is a look in Tracker at China, or what is left of it.

"SS KIX hits Type 93 Mine at Akyab" and she has 96% flotation damage. No fires, but it looks bad. She is ordered to forget Colombo and make for Chittagong. We also lost AM Benalla to gunfire but might have gotten an Imperial sub in the bargain.

The TF is not picked up by search, perhaps due to weather. Most unfortunate because we have a small xAKL unloading supply at Cox's Bazar. Across the river in the jungle, the Australians' morale is slipping a bit.

A TF dubiously scouted as consisting of 6 x CA is 120nm west of Akyab at GR 51,45. What is the IJN up to?

The largest troop convoy finished unloading the last bit of supply and is headed back to Hawaii. The base forces appear just over three days out. After some minor ship repairs, the 40th Division will load at San Francisco along with engineers and base forces. That convoy will then also make for Fiji.

Cox's Bazar was bombarded for little effect, except to disruption on the British 70th Division. Oddly there are two TFs hanging around at Cox's Bazar. Surely Yamato and friends for another go, but there is another of 3 unidentified ships. Perhaps mine laying? Little Kalarand was told to flee, but...

P-38s sweeping out of Dacca ahead of the B-17s would sure help those heavies hitting Akyab. Do you have any of those in India? They can sweep at normal range from Dacca and still be immune to SCFTs. Even Yamato cannot shoot that far:). That would be a very unpleasant nuisance for the fighters stacked against bomber raids. A handy fighter type for the Allies to put in India at this stage.

I've decided to keep the first run of P-38s for SWPac. I've also been upgrading B-17 groups there to B-24 to give all the B-17s to SEAsia. I've actually got a whole bunch of B-17s in the pool for the boys in Calcutta, although obviously that was a bad day.

I wanted to hit Meiktila one more time to put it back near to being shutdown before switching to the two level 3 airfields flanking it - Magwe and Mandalay. Akyab looks as though it is only borderline operational.

I have to let Devious Admiral Wa have a good day in the air once in a while to keep his morale up!

You probably already thought of this but just in case; Concentration of subs around Pago-Pago suggests his subs probably got a sniff of the ships that went there, most likely by Glen seaplane. Glens have a range of 4 hexes, so just keep your carriers/amphib groups at least four hexes away from the known subs and they should remain undetected. You would also have to ensure your carrier search aircraft do not overfly the known sub positions.

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No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

The battle near Tuyun saw a fresh Chinese corps take up positions just before dawn. Their weight clearly meant a difference in the outcome of a full on Imperial attack. Near Kweilin the matter seems to be another partial attack but it still went in the Allies favor this time.

The base forces' convoy has arrived safely at Suva and will now unload. A convoy with engineers and base forces has finished loading and leaves San Francisco for Fiji at sundown. Another convoy will commence loading the 40th Infantry Division and two more base forces, then itself depart for Fiji.

Loads of air attacks on the Allies in China, and one unsuccessful attack on a merchant near Nauru Island by a USN sub. A third Imperial unit has not joined the Australians just over the border in Burma. The base forces finished unloading on Fiji and the ships are heading back for more. The 3rd Marine Division is 97% prepped for Noumea. The spring is coiling hard and only the shipping distances are in our way. And the Empire.

All of the B-17s made is home safely. Akyab is still shut down and Meiktila shows as almost closed to CAP and closed to bombers. Our follow through tomorrow will be B-25s hitting the Akyab airfield and Wellingtons attacking the port.

Due to an orders error the empty convoy remained at Fiji where it was spotted today - 6/6. There is a sub in the area and perhaps a Glen was the culprit.

Now 6 Imperial units with the Australians in Burma. The Wellingtons went into Akyab, half of them without escort. The B-25s did not. 10 Wellingtons were lost. Being experienced professionals, they hit their target through the opposition.

The B-17 attack against Mandalay seemed to deliver the ordnance and reported only 1 x B-17 lost, but in fact 5 x B-17 were lost in the air! That's a new record; I've never before seen a multiplier of 5 on the losses reported in the combat report.

In combat today there were some failed attacks by US subs on the Imperial war economy, plus aerial attacks on the Allies in China. On the ground was only this, as the Japanese continue their line of advance toward the northern supply route.